Reboot, if it doesn't work, feel free to try to make your own firmware using the askubuntu link provided by skomo
I do think that some kernel changes may have broken the firmware upload on some Broadcom bluetooth chipsets as my own Bluetooth dongle refuses to work at all when the firmware file is present but the firmware is only needed to use the HFP/HSP for low quality audio

Don't just reboot, is not enough... you need to turn off the computer completely

No change after the last instructions you asked me to try, JeremyB. But it appears that I'm now in a worse state than when I started, lol. Bluetooth still doesn't work and thinks my computer belongs to 'Bastien' and it is no longer looking for devices (it's stalled/frozen). Who/what is this 'Bastien'?

I've had a longer look at skomo's Skomo's link and, using the BCM.hcp file he compiled for the HP notebook (Thanks skomo), I think I have to follow Skomo's AskUbunto instructions from paragraph 6. Here goes.

Last edited by linoleum on Sat Jan 27, 2018 1:08 pm, edited 1 time in total.

The only difference between kernels and the firmware is what the firmware needs to be named in /lib/firmware/brcm. Your firmware needs to be /lib/firmware/brcm/BCM.hcd

Bastien is one of the dev's working on Bluez and there are some placeholder info in the source code that shows up when bluetooth devices aren't working. The problem is with the kernels hardware support and different developers.

You can delete the firmware file you have now and reboot to get rid of Bastien's Computer